Friday, April 10, 2009

I have been falling into a routine that on Saturday or Sunday mornings, if I don't have work, I end up flipping on HBO on Demand and looking for a horror movie to keep me occupied while Jim does his school stuff.

A few weeks ago, I watched One Missed Call, which I haven't reviewed...I guess I'll put that in my back pocket for a rainy day blog. The other morning, I watched 28 Weeks Later (Before we start I'd just like to say that I personally loved rottentomatoes.com's review of this movie, and I suggest you read that too).

28 Weeks Later, released in 2007, is the follow up to 2002's 28 Days Later. 28 Days Later was really frightening, because it is pretty realistic. It's one of those movies that could really happen. A chimp in a lab infected with a Rage virus is released by animal activists, and the virus spreads to a pandemic and the infected are extraordinarily vicious and bloodthirsty. Of course, it kind of gets a little bizarre with the whole soliders starting a new community involving raping women to continue the population and whatnot...but overall, this movie was terrifying. The infected were like fast, insane, bloody zombies.

With 28 Weeks Later, I was kind of expecting the same thing. The movie begins with some survivors in a boarded up house, eating dinner together. A young child bangs on the door for help, and they reluctantly let him in. A few minutes later, some of the rage-infected zombies burst into the house and begin attacking the survivors."Maybe my boyfriend's out there....."

Don, one of the main characters, manages to escape and ditches his wife, Alice, to run for freedom.This was particularly gutwrenching, because she's pounding on the window begging for him to help and he runs off as she watches him leave her in the dust. What a jerk.They cut to a black screen that basically gives a timeline of what happened to England during the Rage outbreak:

It basically took 28 weeks for the infected to die of starvation and for the rebuilding/reoccupancy of England to start again.

Skip ahead to the 28 weeks later...and we find that the army is trying to help people move back into "District 1" (declared safe) of Britain.

Two of the youngest citizens to return are Andy and Tammy, who happen to be Don and Alice's children:Andy has an inherited trait called heterochromia, which is basically a difference in coloration of the iris, hair or skin. This is discovered by the chief medial officer of the new District 1, Dr. Scarlett:, during an examination:

Noticing it, but too focused on how Andy and Tammy are the youngest allowed back, Dr. Scarlett picks her battles. Don has been giving the job of head caretaker of District 1, and shows his kids around. He also tells Andy and Tammy about how he tried to save their mother,but couldn't. Hey, Don, remember this?!

Didn't think so...

Anyways, the kids go off "exploring" and OF COURSE, stupid Andy has to have a picture of his mother, so they leave District 1 (which is forbidden) and head off to their old digs. I would've thrown these kids out of District 1 if I were the Army. Send them back to Spain or put them in Quarantine for being disobedient turds. I love kids.

Meanwhile, the kids make it back home, and Andy finds...Alice?! Alive and looking pretty craptastic.

The kids and Alice are taken back to quarantine, and while Alice is disinfected (rinsed with a hose) and examined, Don is notified that his wife (that he ditched to save himself like a selfish a-hole) is still alive and his kids were rescued. Don sure has some 'splaining to do to his kids, doesn't he?

While he's whipped by Tammy's lashing tongue, Dr. Scarlett sees that Alice has been bitten...and that her eye is bloody, yet she is asymptomatic to the Rage virus:

Anyway, Dr. Scarlett wants to keep her alive to study her and try to discover a cure, but the commanding officer wants her destroyed to avoid spreading the virus.

While they are discussing Alice's impeding doom, Don has to see for himself that Alice is alive and (kinda) well. He uses his exclusive care-taker cards and scans himself into her room.

After he apologizes, and she accepts (which I would've never done, Don can rot in hell for all I care), they make out.

Well, guess who isn't immune?

Now, Zombie Don not only ditches Alice, he also mutilates her:

Seriously Alice, Don wasn't worth your time.

Anyway, with another outbreak on the loose, the Army calls for a "Code Red", which is basically extermination after attempts to quarantine and isolate have failed.

He somehow ends up with Dr. Scarlett (who is trying to save Andy and Tammy because she believes that they hold valuable research/medial importance due to their genes with Alice) and the kids and a few other people who I guess die? I forget.

(I feel like Doyle and Dr. Scarlett make an awesome couple, btw)

The small group have to now avoid blood thirsty rage infected zombies, the Army's attempts to blow Britain to smithereens again, and deadly gases.

Doyle has a friend, Flynn, who is constantly riding around in his helicopter. He has Flynn come to help them out at one point, but Flynn is afraid of being taken by the Army, and does an amazing thing where he takes out a FIELD of infected zombies!

Seriously, I tried to find a good clip of the scene online but I couldn't. If you don't want to see this movie at all...Just watch this scene. It is worth it. Trust me. I think this one scene is worth seeing the entire movie just to get to this scene. It is...incredible.

Anyway, after Flynn takes out a zillion infected in a gory, body part chopping massacre, he tells Doyle and co to meet him at some stadium so he can get them out of here.

Doyle and Dr. Scarlett make their way, and before getting gased, get into a little car and cover their faces while trying to not get infected:

Eventually, the infected die from the gases, and Doyle tries to get out and push the car to get it started...but....there are Army guys with flame throwers...and...

NOOOO!! DOYLE!!!!

Dr. Scarlett is now the lone adult with Andy and Tammy, trying to get to this stadium.

Now things get really scary. They end up in a dark tunnel, and Dr. Scarlett only has night vision to guide Tammy and Andy around in the pitch black past dead bodies and avoiding the infected.

Of course, daddy dearest is hot on their heels, and he destroys Dr. Scarlett in a scene that we have to experience in night vision. Yikes.

Tammy and Andy are the only ones left, and Don is attacking poor Andy and ends up taking a bite out of him. Tammy shoots and kills Don, and she and Andy make their way to the stadium.

They meet up with Flynn, and Flynn begins to take them out to safety. Little does Flynn know, Andy has been bitten and is an asymptomatic carrier, just like his mother.

The film ends with a disturbing scene showing the crashed helicopter that Flynn and the kids were flying in, and a shot of the Eiffel Tower with the infected running towards it. This basically signifies that all of mainland Europe has been infected with the Rage virus.

My thoughts were that I may have liked 28 Weeks Later better than 28 Days Later. I felt that the story was really intense and frightening, and I loved the idea of trying to bring back the citizens and thinking that everything is over and safe and then OH NO! It isn't! I also thought the way it was filmed with the shaking camera footage and night vision added to the effect. It felt realistic, and I was completely invested and involved in the movie the entire time.

Of course...if for nothing else, watch this movie because of the usage of a helicopter as a giant zombie-killing machine. You may never be the same.

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